Kaius used Eye of Mana to examine the two sturdy-looking skeletons before him.

Name

Skeleton Soldier

Level

1

Health

Normal

Mana

1/1

Strength

16

Vitality

6

Dexterity

5

Intelligence

3

Name

Skeleton Soldier

Level

2

Health

Normal

Mana

1/1

Strength

26

Vitality

6

Dexterity

5

Intelligence

3

Kaius looked at the level 2 Skeleton Soldier and was surprised at its high strength. This Skeleton Soldier was of course made from Chad’s body.

After Chad saw Kaius forcefully summon the Skeleton Soldier from his girlfriend’s body, his mind completely broke and allowed Kaius to easily summon a Skeleton Soldier using his body as well.

Kaius brought up his own status window.

Name

Kaius

Class

Necromancer

Level

9

Health

Normal

Mana

905/905

Strength

25

Vitality

25

Dexterity

24

Intelligence

178

Skills (active)

General

Eye of Mana (2MP): allows the caster to view more information on the target.

Dark Magic

Shadow Bolt (10MP): shoot out a bolt made up of nether energy in a straight line.

Corrosive Armor (30MP): wraps the caster in armor made up of corrosive nether energy, increasing Vitality by level *2, plus an additional (50% + level%) of base Vitality stat. When anyone except for the caster comes into contact with Corrosive Armor, deal initial nether damage plus additional damage over time. Consumes 10 mana per minute.

Necromancy

Summon Skeleton (20MP): summon a skeleton warrior from a nearby corpse. Max limit: 45.

Control Undead (35MP): takes control over any undead creature. If the undead creature is more powerful than the caster, spell may fail and caster will suffer backlash, entering into the Weakened State for 4 hours. Weakened State reduces all attributes by 70%. Max limit: 45.

Netherworld

Bone Confiscation (50MP): forcefully rips out the skeletons from a living being and transforms the skeleton into a skeleton soldier. Attributes of the skeleton soldier is dependent on the attributes of the living being used. If the living being has higher intelligence attribute than the caster, spell may fail and caster will suffer backlash, entering into the Weakened State for 4 hours. Weakened State reduces all attributes by 70%. Max limit: 18.

Skills (passive)

Mastery of Necromancy: as a being that has formerly reached the peak of necromancy, reduce the mana cost of all necromancy spells by 50%.

Mana Mastery: as a being that has formerly reached the peak of at least one type of magic, reduce the mana cost of all spells by 20%.

Nether Physique: as a result of successfully casting Nether Rebirth, Nether Physique has been acquired. Enhances the effects of all dark magic spells by 100%. Enhances the effects of all Necromancy spells by 200%. Possessor of the Nether Physique is immune to zombie virus. Increases resistance against dark magic by 20%. Increases mana pool by level * 100. Increases mana regeneration by 500%. Gain 5 additional Intelligence stat points and 1 additional attribute point per level up.

Favor of the Nether God: gained the favor of the God of the Netherworld due to possession of the Nether Physique. Increase experience gained by 100%. Gain 2 additional attribute points per level up.

Nether Link: a connection has been made to the Netherworld. Caster can dismiss undead creatures under their control to the Netherworld and resummon it anytime at half the mana cost. Increases effects of Netherworld spells by 100%. Increases resistance to all magic damage by 5%.

Resistance

Zombie Virus: 100%; Dark magic: 20%; All magic: 5%

Kaius looked at the new active and passive skills and fell into deep thought.

“I merely wanted to test out what would happen if I applied my understanding of magic from my previous life to the Summon Skeleton spell. I didn’t think I would end up gaining two new skills.”

He also recalled that back then, he heard a System message before he was able to cast the Bone Confiscation spell.

[Conditions fulfilled. New spells unlocked.]

Kaius tried to guess what conditions he had fulfilled, but couldn’t arrive at any concrete conclusions.

The other thing he noticed from his status screen was that he did not gain any PK levels from killing these people. Recalling the explanation by the System, a Player killing another Player in self-defense would not gain any PK levels. Since Chad’s gang had tried to kill Kaius first, the System deemed all actions by Kaius as self-defense.

With all members from Chad’s gang dead, Kaius went around to collect the System Coins dropped by them. He noticed that Chad and his girlfriend didn’t drop any System Coins, hence he came to the tentative conclusion that the people he killed using Bone Confiscation couldn’t drop any System Coins. At the end, he counted that he had collected 31 System Coins. Now he had a total of 299 System Coins.

Of course, Kaius didn’t forget to loot their backpacks as well. After taking out all the food rations from their backpacks and putting them into his own, Kaius’ backpack is now filled to the brim with food.

“I might face big trouble if I go back to the city and the authorities somehow find out I killed these people,” thought Kaius to himself. “Might as well stay in the diner at Belwood for a few days and slay zombies to level up.”

With his next course of action decided, Kaius went into Belwood with his undead army and spent the remainder of the day to eliminate all the zombies in the village.

Since maintaining these undead creatures don’t cost any mana, Kaius used Control Undead and Summon Skeleton until he reached their limits.

At night, Kaius was able to sleep comfortably in the diner while he sent half of his undead army towards Durham to kill zombies and level up. The remaining half stayed in or near the diner to stand guard.

During the day, Kaius would go out to replenish his undead army and kill even more zombies. Just like this, Kaius spent the next few days killing zombies and continuously leveled up.

Over this period, Kaius had also tried to use his existing spells in various ways, hoping he could fulfill some hidden requirement to create new spells like previously. However, he didn’t have any luck and failed each time.

“I wonder what conditions I fulfilled when I succeeded last time,” Kaius thought to himself.

On the morning of December 31, Kaius woke up early as usual. He allocated his skill points and checked his status.

Name

Kaius

Class

Necromancer

Level

18

Health

Normal

Mana

1805/1805

Strength

43

Vitality

43

Dexterity

42

Intelligence

223

Skills (active)

General

Eye of Mana (2MP): allows the caster to view more information on the target.

Dark Magic

Shadow Bolt (10MP): shoot out a bolt made up of nether energy in a straight line.

Corrosive Armor (30MP): wraps the caster in armor made up of corrosive nether energy, increasing Vitality by level *2, plus an additional (50% + level%) of base Vitality stat. When anyone except for the caster comes into contact with Corrosive Armor, deal initial nether damage plus additional damage over time. Consumes 10 mana per minute.

Necromancy

Summon Skeleton (20MP): summon a skeleton warrior from a nearby corpse. Max limit: 90.

Control Undead (35MP): takes control over any undead creature. If the undead creature is more powerful than the caster, spell may fail and caster will suffer backlash, entering into the Weakened State for 4 hours. Weakened State reduces all attributes by 70%. Max limit: 90.

Netherworld

Bone Confiscation (50MP): forcefully rips out the skeletons from a living being and transforms the skeleton into a skeleton soldier. Attributes of the skeleton soldier is dependent on the attributes of the living being used. If the living being has higher intelligence attribute than the caster, spell may fail and caster will suffer backlash, entering into the Weakened State for 4 hours. Weakened State reduces all attributes by 70%. Max limit: 36.

Skills (passive)

Mastery of Necromancy: as a being that has formerly reached the peak of necromancy, reduce the mana cost of all necromancy spells by 50%.

Mana Mastery: as a being that has formerly reached the peak of at least one type of magic, reduce the mana cost of all spells by 20%.

Nether Physique: as a result of successfully casting Nether Rebirth, Nether Physique has been acquired. Enhances the effects of all dark magic spells by 100%. Enhances the effects of all Necromancy spells by 200%. Possessor of the Nether Physique is immune to zombie virus. Increases resistance against dark magic by 20%. Increases mana pool by level * 100. Increases mana regeneration by 500%. Gain 5 additional Intelligence stat points and 1 additional attribute point per level up.

Favor of the Nether God: gained the favor of the God of the Netherworld due to possession of the Nether Physique. Increase experience gained by 100%. Gain 2 additional attribute points per level up.

Nether Link: a connection has been made to the Netherworld. Caster can dismiss undead creatures under their control to the Netherworld and resummon it anytime at half the mana cost. Increases effects of Netherworld spells by 100%. Increases resistance to all magic damage by 5%.

Resistance

Zombie Virus: 100%; Dark magic: 20%; All magic: 5%

Happy with his leveling progress, Kaius went out to kill zombies as usual.

In the past few days, Kaius had always avoided travelling northwest towards the direction of Durham during the day because he wanted to stay far away from the zombie portal in Durham for now. There were enough zombies in other directions away from Durham.

But after killing zombies non-stop for the past few days, the zombies had lessened significantly in these other directions. So today Kaius decided to head northwest, towards a small village called Mt. Forest in order to maintain his leveling speed.

Mt. Forest is roughly a two-hour bike ride from Belwood. However, since Kaius was killing zombies along the way, the trip took triple the time, and it was around noon when Kaius finally arrived.

Similar to Belwood, a river separated the entrance to Mt. Forest from the other side. A bridge had been built on Highway 6 that leads into the village.

Kaius travelled along Highway 6 with his undead army into the village.

Residential areas were situated in the outer perimeters of the village. Right when Kaius stepped into the residential area, the sound of his steps attracted the attention of a group of zombies loitering around.

Immediately, Kaius commanded his undead army to go forth and deal with this group of zombies.

When Kaius’ zombies engaged with Mt. Forest’s zombies, it was like watching two drunk wrestlers trying to tear into each other’s throats. The zombies tussled with each other awkwardly.

The skeleton warriors fared better. With their 15 points in Strength, the skeleton warriors stabbed their bony fingers through the zombies’ eye sockets and into their brains, while the zombies flailed around, clumsily trying to dismantle the skeleton warriors.

The fight between Skeleton Soldiers and zombies was like a fight between an adult and a child. Kaius had equipped each Skeleton Soldier with a Basic Short Sword since he had quite a few of these swords. The Skeleton Soldiers used their immense strength to stab at the zombies’ heads, with each attack easily skewering their brains and ending their undead life.

After Kaius’ undead army quickly disposed of this group of zombies, Kaius searched the original host’s memories and decided to go west, towards Louise Marshall Hospital. He figured that the hospital should have both food and medicine. Although he’s immune to the zombie virus and is a lot stronger now than the average person, Kaius knew that he’s still susceptible to other diseases.

Kaius slowly rode on this bike while his undead army marched as fast as they can on Martin Street. He passed by a few more residential areas along the way, and his undead army easily took care of the nearby zombies. Whenever one of Kaius’ zombies or skeleton warriors died, he would simply use the corresponding spell on Mt. Forest’s zombies to replenish his army.

After arriving at the hospital, Kaius sent 20 zombies, 10 skeleton warriors, and the level 1 Skeleton Soldier from his undead army into the hospital to kill all the zombies inside, while he and his remaining undead army cleared the hospital’s perimeter.

As Kaius was killing zombies outside the hospital, he suddenly felt his connection with a zombie disappear. He didn’t give much thought to this as he had guessed that it was probably killed by an enemy zombie in the hospital.

A short while later, he felt his connections with several zombies as well as a skeleton warrior disappear. Sensing this, Kaius furrowed his brows.

“Something inside the hospital was actually capable of overcoming the skeleton warrior’s 15 Strength?”

Kaius decided to go inside the hospital to investigate. He brought along 30 zombies, 20 skeleton warriors, and the level 2 Skeleton Soldier. The remaining undead army was left outside to keep eliminating the surrounding zombies.

Louise Marshall Hospital was roughly in the shape of a “T”. A side door near the south section of the T-shaped hospital had been left ajar; it was forcefully ripped open by the level 1 Skeleton Soldier earlier. Kaius opened the side door and went inside with his undead army.

Inside the hospital, Kaius stepped into a long hallway, with patient rooms on both sides. All the doors to the patient rooms were closed.

With a thought, Kaius ordered the zombies to open all the patient rooms.

After looking into several rooms, Kaius noticed that there was nobody in any of the rooms, not even dead bodies.

“These rooms look too clean and organized. Why aren’t there any bodies lying around, dead or undead?”

As Kaius slowly made his way forward to the middle of the “T” area, he felt his connection with a few more zombies and skeleton warriors disappear.

“Something strong is killing my undead army.”

In this middle section of the “T” area, Kaius saw one of his own zombies lying on the ground. Its head looked like it had been pierced by a sharp object.

“Could there be other people in here? Or a strong undead?” Kaius thought to himself.

Kaius materialized a Basic Short Sword in his right hand and continued forward while being surround by his undead army.

As he slowly made his way to the northern end of the “T” shaped hospital, Kaius could hear fighting sounds coming from around the corner to the right.

Kaius peaked over the T-shaped intersection of the hallway and saw a group of people fighting against his undead army.

Kaius activated Eye of Mana on everyone he could see. Five people wearing doctor’s attires immediately caught his attention.

Name

Adam

Level

8

Health

Normal

Mana

25/40

Strength

28 (+3)

Vitality

12

Dexterity

14

Intelligence

11

Skills (active)

Lesser Strength Enhance (15MP): temporarily increases Strength by 3. Duration: 15 minutes.

Name

Scott

Level

8

Health

Normal

Mana

25/40

Strength

27 (+3)

Vitality

13

Dexterity

12

Intelligence

12

Skills (active)

Lesser Strength Enhance (15MP): temporarily increases Strength by 3. Duration: 15 minutes.

Name

Chris

Level

7

Health

Normal

Mana

35/35

Strength

22

Vitality

11

Dexterity

10

Intelligence

13

Skills

???

Name

Kayla

Level

6

Health

Normal

Mana

30/30

Strength

16

Vitality

10

Dexterity

13

Intelligence

12

Skills

???

Name

Kyle

Level

6

Health

Normal

Mana

30/30

Strength

19

Vitality

11

Dexterity

12

Intelligence

11

Skills

???

There were seven more people fighting as well, but they were all level 1 with no skills, so Kaius didn’t pay much attention to them.

“Why are we not getting any experience or items after killing these undead?” asked Scott.

“How would I know! Keep killing,” shouted Kyle.

Kaius saw that Adam alone was able to contend with his level 1 Skeleton Soldier. The Skeleton Soldier was on the losing end as well.

The remaining four high-leveled people were able to easily deal with Kaius’ zombies and skeleton warriors.

The upper right portion of the hospital is the kitchen area. There are two double-door entrances to the kitchen, one at the north side and one at the south side.

Adam and Scott defended the north entrance while the other three high-leveled people defended the south entrance. The seven level 1 people worked together to kill off any straggler zombies that made it past them.

Given the narrow passage, the undead creatures couldn’t effectively utilize their strength in numbers.

Kaius observed the situation and was trying to figure out what he should do next.

After debating for a bit, Kaius decided to dismiss all of his undead creatures that were currently fighting while he slipped out of the hospital with his remaining undead creatures.

Kaius was thinking that assuming these five people were all doctors, it would be a good idea to become friends with them if they were decent people. But if they were like the cannibalistic elderly couple that he encountered back at Belwood, he would strike them down without mercy.

Back in his previous life, Kaius liked to be left alone to study necromancy all day in his castle. He had little conflict with anyone outside. He never hurt any innocent people and only used death row inmates when he needed test subjects for his necromancy experiments.

In this life, Kaius also didn’t want to obtain strength by hurting innocent people if he didn’t have to.

Due to his cautious nature, Kaius retreated to the nearest residential area and chose a random house to stay in. He wanted to observe the people in the hospital for a while before deciding on his next course of action.

After observing for a few of hours, Kaius suddenly heard the sound of motorbikes coming from the distance.

A group of six bikers stopped a few meters in front of the hospital’s main entrance on the west side.

One of the bikers wearing a leather jacket swaggered up to the hospital entrance and shouted, “Adam! Hand over all your food and medicine, and we’ll let you live. This is your last chance!”

A short while later, a voice from inside the hospital shouted back. “Haven’t you people killed enough? We don’t even have much food left here, just leave us alone. If you really want to fight, then we’ll fight you to the death.”

“Hmph! You think you’re qualified to fight us to the death? You think too highly of yourselves.”

Boom!

Without wasting any more words, the biker wearing the leather jacket threw a punch at the hospital’s main door and smashed it wide open.

A few hundred meters away inside a house, Kaius observed the situation with interest.

Eye of Mana!

Name

Nelson (PK level 10)

Level

10

Health

Normal

Mana

50/50

Strength

28

Vitality

13

Dexterity

16

Intelligence

11

Skills

???

Name

Kane (PK level 10)

Level

12

Health

Normal

Mana

60/60

Strength

32

Vitality

14

Dexterity

19

Intelligence

13

Skills

???

Name

Jax (PK level 6)

Level

9

Health

Normal

Mana

45/45

Strength

25

Vitality

12

Dexterity

14

Intelligence

8

Skills

???

Name

AJ (PK level 5)

Level

9

Health

Normal

Mana

45/45

Strength

27

Vitality

10

Dexterity

15

Intelligence

9

Skills

???

Name

Krip (PK level 2)

Level

8

Health

Normal

Mana

40/40

Strength

24

Vitality

11

Dexterity

14

Intelligence

10

Skills

???

Name

Gordon (PK level 3)

Level

8

Health

Normal

Mana

40/40

Strength

25

Vitality

11

Dexterity

13

Intelligence

9

Skills

???

“Kane is pretty high level for someone that’s not in the army”, thought Kaius.

According to the original host’s memories, people that live in towns and cities are mostly level 1 or 2. Some of the braver ones might be level 3 or 4. Since the army and local authorities usually take care of the zombies, the average person don’t get much chance to deal with zombies.

Kaius was already a bit surprised earlier by Adam’s group’s high levels. Now another group showed up with even higher levels.

Through Eye of Mana, Kaius saw that the person who blasted open the hospital door was called Nelson.

Nelson let out a chuckle and went inside the hospital first. The rest of the bikers followed, with Kane, who appeared to be the leader of the group, walking at the back of the group.

Since Kaius couldn’t see the bikers anymore, he decided to head to the hospital and have a closer look.

Inside the hospital, Adam’s group all stood at the north-most part of the hospital, nervously waiting to confront Kane’s group.

A minute that seemed like an eternity finally passed. Kane’s group now stood face to face with Adam’s group with only a few meters apart.

Nelson eyed everyone on the opposite side with disdain.

“Last chance Adam. Hand over all your food and medicine, and you get to keep your life. Otherwise… I’ll make sure to kill you slowly.”

“Nelson you bastard!” shouted Adam. “I should have killed you last time after you murdered all those innocent people.”

“Hehe, too late now. While you were holed up inside the hospital like cowards, we were out there killing zombies and getting stronger. Since you’re not willing to comply, I’ll help send you to your grave!”

A Basic Short Sword materialized in Nelson’s right hand as he rushed forward. His body also started to exude a very faint red and green aura.

As though this was the signal to start the battle, the two groups, except for Kane, charged towards each other.

In a flash, Nelson arrived in front of Adam and slashed his sword. Adam managed to defend at the last second, however, the difference in strength quickly showed.

Their first exchange made Adam stagger three steps backwards. Just as he managed to stabilize himself, Nelson slashed at him again.

This time, Adam barely managed to deflect the attack, but that caused him to lose balance for a second. Grasping this opportunity, Nelson ruthlessly kicked Adam’s side and sent him tumbling back a meter.

“Adam!” Scott glanced over and shouted from the side. He tried to rush to Adam’s defense, but his opponent blocked the way.

“Hehe, you should worry about yourself first,” the person named Jax sneered.

Jax held a Basic Short Sword in his right hand and attacked Scott.

Although their strengths were fairly even, Jax was able to move slightly faster than Scott thanks to his higher dexterity stat. Hence, although Scott was able to hold his own against Jax, he was on the defensive the entire time.

Off to the side, Chris, Kayla, and Kyle were having a hard time defending themselves. The three of them worked together to cover each other.

Kayla made eye contact with Chris and Kyle. Suddenly, Chris and Kyle switched targets and attacked Kayla’s opponent together.

Not expecting the sudden group attack, AJ, the target of the attacks, quickly fell back and diverted most of his attention trying to block the Chris and Kyle’s attacks.

Right as AJ shifted his attention away from Kayla, she activated her skill Rush, which increased her dexterity by 10 for three seconds. She suddenly accelerated towards AJ like a soaring arrow and stabbed her Basic Short Sword right at his heart.

Just when Kayla’s sword was inches away from AJ’s heart, his speed accelerated even faster than hers. He easily jumped backwards to dodge Chris and Kyle’s attacks, while deflecting Kayla’s stab.

After he safely avoided all the attacks and jumped back a good distance, AJ looked down on Kayla and mocked her.

“Did you think you were the only person with a Rush skill?”

“Shit! Kyle, Chris, dodge!”

Unfortunately, Kayla’s warning came too late.

“Ah!”

“Ack!”

Chris’ back was slashed by Krip, while Kyle was severely wounded on his left arm by Gordon.

Their plan was to create an opening for Kayla to launch a surprise attack on AJ and kill him. Then they would be able to fight Krip and Gordon with a numerical advantage.

Unfortunately, AJ came out unscathed, while Chris and Kyle got badly wounded by their original opponents.

“Krip, Gordon, use your skills to finish them off. Leave Kayla to me.” AJ commanded as he turned his attention back to Kayla.

In a desperate attempt to turn the tides, Kayla gritted her teeth and activated Rush once more towards Gordon.

However, before she could get near him, she saw AJ’s blurry figure overtake her in an instant and slash at her.

Kayla used her Basic Short Sword to defend, but AJ’s higher strength simply overpowered her and slammed her against the wall.

Kayla fell on the ground and wheezed, feeling as though she got the wind knocked out of her.

“Kayla!”

“No!”

AJ knocked Kayla’s Basic Short Sword away, then kicked her stomach without hold back any strength.

The kick sent Kayla flying a few meters across the ground towards the west entrance. She curled up like a dried shrimp and coughed up blood.

“You bastard, I’ll kill you!” Kyle shouted in anger and charged at AJ.

“Hmph, dumbass, you’re overestimating yourself.” AJ signaled for Gordon to not interfere.

Kyle slashed out at AJ with all his strength. Right when the slash was about to connect, AJ’ figure suddenly blurred and appeared behind Kyle.

Puchi!

AJ stabbed his Basic Short Sword through Kyle’s stomach from behind. Then, he gripped the sword with both of his hands and pushed down, slashing through Kyle’s lower torso.

Blood and guts splattered on the ground as Kyle stared down in horror. He managed to turn his head to look at his sister Kayla one last time before falling lifelessly on the ground.

“Kyle… no…” Kayla whimpered amidst her tears.

“Gordon, Krip, go kill Chris. I’ll finish her off.” AJ commanded.

Gordon and Krip nodded and turn their attention on the wounded Chris. The duo simultaneously launched an attack on Chris. He barely managed to dodge one attack but got slashed on his left arm by the other attack.

Krip was about to attack again when he heard AJ’s scream.

Krip turned his head and saw AJ’s limp body on the ground. Half of AJ’s face had been blown off. Then, looking further to the direction of the west entrance, Krip saw a dark-haired youth calmly walking towards them.